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That was a decompression event with high pressure air flowing out. If a submarine has a rupture that deep, it would go the other way, high pressure water coming
by HWR_14 3y ago
That was a decompression event with high pressure air flowing out. If a submarine has a rupture that deep, it would go the other way, high pressure water coming in. Most likely, as soon as there was any break the whole thing would collapse in on itself. Picture yourself crushing an empty coke can between the two flat ends. It goes from intact and pretty strong to all of a sudden easy to push and crushed.
In the event you could contain it to a simple pinhole and not have it instantly crush, the stream of water would cut anything placed in its path. It would work similar to a lightsaber.
- kamranjon 3y agoAh interesting - thank you for the explanation! That is just about as terrifying I think.
- flyinghamster 3y agoAlso, at that depth, the crushing pressure of an implosion would instantly superheat the air within the hull like a diesel engine combustion chamber. Which would win - flashed into ash or compressed into goo?
- delecti 3y agoKeeping it to round numbers, pressure at 4000m is about 400atm, or a bit under 6000 PSI. From what I can see, a waterjet cutter ranges from 20,000 PSI to 100,000, depending on model and which source you trust. So if they could contain it to a pinhole, they'd probably be lucky enough that the incoming stream wouldn't cut through the far side, though the same isn't true of the occupants. Though as you said, the far more likely outcome is that the vessel would crush almost instantly.
- HWR_14 3y agoThanks for the rough numbers. And yes, that would be enough to kill people, but I probably overstated the effect on harder materials. A pressure washer maxes out around 4000 PSI for a powerful one, and that can easily cut through flesh.